Instead of a packed legislative hearing room and rows of speakers waiting to commend or condemn an oil and gas bill, about 20 people sat on chairs and a couch in a north suburban living room. And instead of a panel of legislators, the speakers addressed an audience of one — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.

The statements given in a March 8 sit-down with the governor were as impassioned as during emotionally charged committee hearings last week on Senate Bill 19-181, which seeks to overhaul the regulation of oil and gas in Colorado.

The bill passed three Senate committees last week and is being heard in the full Senate on Tuesday.

Polis wanted to hear from people who have been affected by oil and gas development, according to the governor’s staff.

“It seems to me the prime directive of all elected officials should be the protection of our health and safety. Our current process that fosters oil and gas development rather than regulate it doesn’t seem to provide that protection,” Bryon Bednar of Erie said. “Whether it’s the threat of lawsuits or real lawsuits against municipalities that try to take a stand, oil and gas have just too much power in the process.”

Bednar and others at last week’s meeting with Polis support the legislation, which would make clear that cities and counties have the authority to regulate oil and gas development under their planning and land-use powers. Bill sponsors describe the authority as opt-in — local governments wouldn’t have to take on regulating oil and gas if they didn’t want to.

The legislation by Senate Majority Leader Steve Fenberg and House Speaker KC Becker, both Democrats, would also make protection of public health, safety and the environment the priority for state regulators. Currently, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Committee is charged with fostering development while looking out for public health and safety.

“This bill is really about balance,” said Polis, a supporter. “And of course, people in our communities should have a say in what affects your health, safety and quality of life.”

The oil and gas industry has challenged communities that have tried to regulate oil and gas or impose a moratorium on new drilling. The industry raised more than $30 million to defeat a Nov. 6 ballot proposal that would have imposed strict buffers around new oil and gas wells.

Polis, who was running for governor at the time, opposed Proposition 112, which would have mandated that new wells be at least 2,500 feet from schools, homes and other areas considered vulnerable, including water sources.

The ballot proposal, which failed, was a one-size-fits-all approach while SB 181 is not, said Polis. Instead, he said, the bill clarifies that local governments can regulate oil and gas as they do other development: residential, commercial and industrial.

“I think the reason for a lot of this tension with oil and gas is that for too long, they’ve been able to effectively go around that,” Polis said. “That builds a lot of resentment.”

Those meeting with Polis expressed frustration with feeling they have no place to turn when companies announce plans to drill in neighborhoods, near schools or go ahead with what’s called forced pooling.

In Colorado, if just one mineral rights owner accepts an offer from a company, others in the area can be forced into a pool of owners. They get paid for the oil and gas but can’t say “no” to development. The bill would require that a majority of mineral owners in a targeted area agree to the drilling.

“What we’ve heard over and over again from our elected officials is they lack local control. They kept saying our hands are tied, you have to go to the state,” said Broomfield resident Laurie Anderson.

The upshot, Anderson added, is 84 new wells will be drilled within a mile of 750 Broomfield homes and not far from schools.

Susan Noble of Commerce City said more than 200 wells at eight sites are proposed for her community. She and other residents are protesting some of the spacing units, which map out the subsurface area a company wants to access and must be approved before drilling permits are approved.

Guillermo Serna of Commerce City said If the bill overhauling oil and gas regulations becomes law, the city council “will have less excuses” for not looking out for people’s health and safety.

Down the road from Commerce City, people in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood aren’t getting much information from city officials about plans for drilling in the area, said Emmett Hobley.

Stacy Lambright of Thornton, who hosted the meeting with Polis, recounted how her son started having nose bleeds when a flow line at an older well in her neighborhood began leaking. The bill would require increased disclosure of pipeline and flow line locations and enhance monitoring for pipelines.

Industry representatives and some elected officials say local governments that have fought oil and gas might ban drilling if they have more authority to regulate it. Fenberg and Becker say there’s nothing in the bill that would allow bans or moratoriums and that any regulations would have to reasonable.

“This bill is not about banning oil and gas. It doesn’t allow us to do that,” Longmont Mayor Brian Bagley said. “However, the one I’ve learned in my eight years of service at a local municipality is we know what works and what doesn’t for our community.

“We know where malls should go, residences should go, apartments should go, mixed use should go. And all the heavy industry is regulated at a local level but for oil and gas,” Bagley added.

But industry representatives testified during last week’s hearings that a patchwork of regulations across the state will stymie production, cutting into the tax revenue flowing to schools and local governments and the jobs supported by one of Colorado’s largest industries.

“Colorado Democrats have ambitious policy goals, which would become far more difficult to implement after crippling one of the state’s leading economic drivers,” Colorado Petroleum Council spokesman Ben Marter said in a statement Monday.

Polis said local governments that benefit from the revenue oil and gas generate have an incentive to work with companies to find solutions. He said he and his staff have had “countless meetings” with industry representatives in the past and leading up to release of the bill.

“It takes everybody working together to solve these issues and provide a stable environment that protects our health and safety and allows oil and gas to operate,” Polis said. “So, we continue to encourage any input from all sides as this occurs.”

Judith Kohler joined The Denver Post in August 2018 and is part of the business team, writing about energy, aerospace, agriculture and other topics. She spent 21 years with The Associated Press, covering politics, government, energy and the environment in Colorado and Wyoming.

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